1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to vehicle pedal assemblies.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Traditional vehicle pedal assemblies may cause injuries to the lower extremities of a driver of a vehicle during a collision. To avoid or mitigate these injuries, pedal assemblies have been developed which break away during excessive loading to absorb the high forces that are generated by the driver hitting the pedal assembly. One such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,184 to Callicut et al. issued May 27, 1997. The Callicut patent discloses an assembly that has two linkages slidable relative to one another along an axis which collapses when excessive loading occurs during a collision. However, the load must be applied along the axis in order for the linkages to collapse. Therefore, what is needed is a more effective non-destructible break away pedal assembly.